Trump cannot trump sale of former Kluge home

Donald Trump’s effort to get a bargain price on “Albemarle House,” the 23,000-square-foot former home of John and Pat Kluge, has foundered in federal court.

A Charlottesville federal judge declared Thursday that the New York developer does not have a right of first refusal to buy the Albemarle County mansion, leaving Bank of America free to market the property to any willing buyer.

U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon ruled against a Trump entity on what he described as a matter of first impression in Virginia law. He found that the right of first refusal created by billionaire John Kluge in 1990 in favor of the owner of land surrounding the mansion was extinguished when Kluge later split up that surrounding land into smaller parcels.